Instant Analysis: Remarkable run ends in Arlington
The road ended Saturday night for Florida's vaunted four seniors. A 30-game win stak, the best gular season in school history, the most successful class in UF history, all went for naught in the end. No. 7 seed Connecticut (31-8) defeated top-seeded Florida (36-3) 63-53 in the national semifinals. Instant Analysis takes a look.
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IT WAS OVER WHEN: Two Shabazz Napier fe throws with 2:04 maining sealed a 12-point lead and cated a deficit that was clearly too much to dent for a Florida team that struggled to put points on the board all night. The Gators had aimed to take Napier away, and he finished with 12 points on 3 of 6 shooting but the Huskies attempted mo shots than their usual prominent scor.
HE STOLE THE SHOW: The biggest diffence between the Huskies the Gators saw in December and the team they we eliminated by Saturday night has been junior forward DeAnd Daniels. That was certainly the case in Florida's biggest game of the year. Daniels was dangerous inside and out, finishing 9 of 14 from the field including 2 of 5 from beyond the arc. He finished with a game-high 20 points and 10 bounds.
THE STAT DOESN'T LIE: For 17 minutes and 29 seconds, the Gators failed to notch a field goal scod by anyone other than Casey Prather. He had four during Florida's ugliest offensive drought of the season. During that time span, the Gators went 4 for 19 from the field. Scottie Wilbekin missed time with cramps but was ineffective when he was on the floor as the Gators finished with the assists compad to the Huskies' 12. Florida's offense - less than explosive most of the season - finally crashed down to earth and sank what once seemed to be an indestructible season.
WHAT A PLAY: Daniels cut to the basket uncontested as Amida Brimah fed him the ball. Florida's trap defense was beat with 14:22 left in the game and UConn's lead momentarily growing. The pass to Daniels was clean and he finished the play off with a big dunk to give the Huskies an eight-point lead.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Florida's frontcourt was supposed to be the diffence, the decided advantage. Turns out, that was never allowed to consistently occur. When given the opportunity, Patric Young was the Gators' best player by a mile but the opportunity wasn't the nearly as much as Florida would have liked. Shaky guard play throughout only allowed Young to get involved in spurts. He finished with 19 points, but Will Yeguete and Dorian Finney-Smith went a combined 1 for 8. One week after dominating the paint in Memphis, Florida was outscod 36-22 inside. Outside, the Gators made one 3-point basket 10 seconds into the game. They went 0 for 8 the st of the way. Wilbekin, the star all year, finished 2 of 9 with four points.
UP NEXT: Florida's season is over.
Official Basketball Box Sco
UConn vs Florida
4/5/14 5:15PM CT at AT&T Stadium, North Texas
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VISITORS: UConn 31-8
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 NOLAN, Phillip...... f 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 4 1 0 1 1 0 15
02 DANIELS, DeAnd.... f 9-14 2-5 0-0 0 10 10 3 20 1 5 1 1 40-
05 GIFFEY, Niels....... f 4-7 0-2 3-3 3 1 4 3 11 0 0 0 0 23
11 BOATRIGHT, Ryan..... g 5-9 1-2 2-2 0 6 6 0 13 3 1 0 1 38
13 NAPIER, Shabazz..... g 3-6 2-3 4-4 0 3 3 0 12 6 2 0 4 38
03 SAMUEL, Ternce.... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 0 0 18
10 OLANDER, Tyler...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 KROMAH, Lasan....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 11
35 BRIMAH, Amida....... 1-2 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 4 2 1 1 2 0 12
TEAM................ 1 1 2 1
Totals.............. 24-43 5-12 10-13 5 23 28 16 63 12 13 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-21 47.6% 2nd Half: 14-22 63.6% Game: 55.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 9-12 75.0% Game: 76.9% 2
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HOME TEAM: Florida 36-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Yeguete, Will....... f 0-2 0-1 2-2 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 23
24 Prather, Casey...... f 6-10 0-0 3-5 4 2 6 1 15 1 2 0 0 30
04 Young, Patric....... c 7-13 0-0 5-8 2 3 5 0 19 0 1 1 0 32
05 Wilbekin, Scottie... g 2-9 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 4 4 1 3 0 2 34
20 Frazier, Michael.... g 1-3 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 1 3 0 1 0 0 32
00 Hill, Kasey......... 2-6 0-0 3-4 2 0 2 4 7 0 4 0 0 15
10 Finney-Smith, Dorian 1-6 0-3 1-1 1 4 5 2 3 1 0 0 1 27
23 Walker, Chris....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
25 Walker, DeVon....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 19-49 1-10 14-20 12 15 27 14 53 3 11 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-23 34.8% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 38.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 10.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-9 55.6% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 70.0% 1
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Officials: John Higgins, Michael Stephens, Doug Sirmons
Technical fouls: UConn-None. Florida-None.
Attendance:
Sco by Periods 1st 2nd Total
UConn......................... 25 38 - 63
Florida....................... 22 31 - 53
2014 NCAA National Semifinal
Points in the paint-UCONN 36,UF 24. Points off turnovers-UCONN 13,UF 16.
2nd chance points-UCONN 2,UF 13. Fast bak points-UCONN 6,UF 0.
Bench points-UCONN 6,UF 10. Sco tied-1 time. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-UCONN 2nd-01:45, UF 2nd-00:26.
Largest lead-UCONN by 12 2nd-02:04, UF by 12 1st-09:48.